Harry and his Little Advent Calendar
by teddylonglong
Summary: What if Voldemort didn't kill the Potters on Halloween but intents to come after them on Christmas Eve? Watch 17 months old Harry open his Advent Calendar every day until Christmas and try to save his parents. Will he succeed? Completely AU. A Childfic.
1. December 15th

**Harry and his Little Advent Calendar**

**December 15th**

Lily groaned in annoyance at the sound of the door bell, swiftly trying to clean up the living room floor, where her husband James and his friend Sirius together with her son Harry had made a complete mess, pretending to draw a Christmas present for her.

"I'm coming," she yelled in the direction of the entrance door, before she hurried to let her best friend Alice together with her husband Frank and their son Neville in. Neville was a day older than Harry, and the two nearly seventeen-months-old boys loved each other dearly.

"Ne-Ne," Harry shouted excitedly, toddling over to his best friend in delight, causing Neville to throw his arms around Harry's shoulders, while a huge smile appeared on his face.

"Hello Harry," the boy's godmother Alice addressed the child. "Look what we brought for you." She handed the toddler a self made advent calendar, which held eleven small bags, each of them filled with a small piece of chocolate or a little toy. "Until Christmas day, you may open one present each day, and when you open the last present, Father Christmas will be coming," she gently explained to the dark haired boy, who looked at the calendar in delight.

"Harry, let's stick it to the wall in the living room," Lily suggested, hanging the calendar up on a nail at a low height, so that Harry could reach his presents. "All right, Harry. Today is the fifteenth, so we have to open the package with the "1" and the "5" on it."

"One fib," Harry smiled, excitedly jumping from one foot to the other, before Lily handed him a small chocolate car wrapped in bright yellow foil."

Harry let out a delighted giggle, before he dashed back to his Aunt Alice, throwing his small arms around her legs, shouting, "Fanku!"

Sitting down on the floor, he circumstantially unwrapped the chocolate, breaking a small piece off the car that he handed to Neville. "Come Ne-Ne, yum yum."

"Oh, can you already say 'Thank you', Harry?" Alice queried in surprise, before she told Lily in a small voice, "They always say that magical children should be able to speak just like Harry does at the age of one, but Neville doesn't speak any words at all yet except for 'Mummy'."

"Oh Alice, don't worry about that," Lily replied softly, quickly cleaning her son's chocolate covered hands. "Remember what Poppy told us when we went to see her for the fifteen months' check-up. Every child is different, and by the time they're three, you won't know the difference anymore."

"Well, that's true," Alice replied, sounding slightly consoled.

"Let's have tea, Alice," Lily motioned her friend to take a seat, before she looked around, sighing in exasperation. "Where did James and Frank go?"

"Let's begin without them. You know they probably won't show up for hours, provided that the kids leave them in peace," Alice smirked.

"That's right," Lily agreed, observing Harry and Neville running after a Snitch that was flying a few centimetres over their heads.

Harry was jumping into the air, trying to catch the golden ball, while he was shouting, "Nitch, Nitch," all the time. Neville was frantically running after Harry, trying to imitate his friend, "Nif, Nif."

After a while of running around, Harry tiredly toddled over to the table. "Mummy, me bikki?" he queried, reaching with both hands up to Lily.

"Yes, you may have a biscuit, sweetie," Lily replied softly, gently pulling the child onto her lap, while Alice did the same with Neville.

"Ne-Ne, bikki yum yum," Harry informed his friend, who happily reached for the plate with the biscuits, kicking his pumpkin juice down from the table as he excitedly pulled his hand back, tightly clasping the small treasure.

"Careful, Neville," Alice told him, while she quickly waved her wand to clean the floor and summon the empty cup back onto the table.

Ten minutes later, both children were fast asleep on their mothers' laps, exhausted from running around and their bellies full of biscuits and pumpkin juice.

Lily and Alice enjoyed some quiet time together, wondering where their husbands were and what they were doing.

"Lily, do you have an idea what to give Harry for Christmas?" Alice queried hesitantly. "I find it very difficult to decide, because I don't know what a one-year-old should be able to do or would have fun with, and everyone says something different."

"Yes, that's true," Lily agreed thoughtfully. "James wants to give him a children's broom. Well, it's more of a toy than a broom, so that it won't be dangerous, but I'm not completely satisfied with that present. However, we're going to visit the Weasleys in a few days' time, and I could ask Molly. With so many children around, she has lots of experience and might be able to give us a few ideas. Why don't you come and visit us again next Sunday? I'm sure Harry and Neville would love playing together again."

"Thank you, Lily. That's a good idea. We'll come on Sunday, and then we'll still have two days left before Christmas," Alice replied gratefully.

When the Longbottoms left late in the afternoon, Harry pulled Neville into an embrace. "Bu-ba Ne-Ne."

"Bu-ba," Neville replied to his parents' amusement, before they left the house and apparated away.

"All right, sweetie; it's time for your bath," Lily told Harry, leading the small child up the stairs to the bathroom. When Harry was cleaned and dressed in his warm blue sleep suit with green dragons on it, Lily read him his favourite Christmas story of a dragon and his friend, who went all the way to the North Pole to look for Father Christmas.

"Good night, my child. I'll see you tomorrow," she finally said softly, placing a kiss on the boy's forehead.

"Ni Mummy. Mowwo abeca opun?" Harry enquired tiredly, obviously trying to keep his eyes open at any cost.

"Yes sweetie, tomorrow we're going to open the next present of your advent calendar," Lily replied softly, glad that in contrary to her husband she could understand the child's babbling.

"Kay," Harry mumbled happily, already drifting off to sleep.

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tbc...

_Thanks to JWOHPfan for correcting my mistakes!_

_Everything here belongs to J. K. Rowling, and I am not earning anything by writing this story._


	2. December 16th

**December 16th**

When Harry woke up in the morning it was still dark outside. '_The advent calendar_,' he remembered immediately. He squeezed himself through the gap between two bars of his crib that willingly made enough space for him, before he hurried down the stairs and to his new treasure. However, unfortunately, Lily was still in bed, and Harry had no idea, which package he was supposed to open today. Letting out a huge yawn, he lay down on the floor right in front of his calendar. '_I'll wait here for Mummy_,' he mused, while he drifted back to sleep.

When Lily got up at six o'clock in the morning in order to get Harry ready and prepare a lunch packet for James and Sirius to take to work, she let out a huge gasp, noticing that Harry was not in his bed. '_Where can he have gone?_' she thought, horrified, knowing that the child shouldn't be able to get out of his crib yet.

She hurried down into the living room, letting out a sigh of relief at the sight of her child, who was still fast asleep on the floor.

"You like your calendar, don't you, sweetie?" she laughed, picking the child up, before she took the present with the number sixteen on it from the calendar and carefully laid the child together with the present into Harry's playpen.

Two minutes later, Harry stood in the playpen frantically holding on to the bars. "Mummy out!" he shouted over and over, unwilling to listen to Lily, who calmly instructed him to wait two minutes and open his present in the meantime.

Only when James entered the room and picked Harry up, gently asking, "Hey little one, what's all this racket about?" the child finally calmed down. With Harry on his arms, James stepped over to Lily, pulling her into a comforting embrace.

"His advent's calendar's present is in his playpen, but he obviously didn't want to see it," Lily explained in a slightly unnerved voice, glad that her husband was looking after the child for a moment.

Harry found a small wizard's doll with a wand in the wrapping paper. Every time he touched the wand its tip lit for a few seconds. After a few minutes, the doll lay disregarded on the floor, and Harry engrossed himself pulling all the books out of the bookshelf out in the corridor, while his Daddy had gone to get dressed.

"Would you mind if I invited the Marauders for tea this afternoon?" James queried later on at breakfast, while he stuck a spoon full of porridge into his son's mouth.

"No problem, James," Lily replied softly. "Harry and I were going to bake some more Christmas pastries today anyway."

An hour later, when James had left for his work in the Ministry, Lily prepared dough to bake, before she invited Harry to cut out biscuits.

Harry looked around the table from his children's seat, taking in the different biscuit cutters Lily had laid out for him, before he asked, "Moo-y?"

"Moony?" Lily queried in surprise. "You want to have a cutter in the form of Uncle Moony?" Seeing Harry nod eagerly, she took a tissue and transfigured it into a small wolf's cutter.

"Moo-y," Harry squealed happily, throwing his mother a pleading glance. "Paf?"

Lily sighed in exasperation. "Oh no, Harry. Don't tell me you want cutters of all the Marauders' forms."

"Ye pe," Harry shouted pleadingly (yes please).

"All right, Padfoot first," Lily gave in, transfiguring another tissue into a dog cutter, causing Harry to cheer.

"Pog," Harry demanded, looking expectantly at his mother, who transfigured the next tissue into a cutter of her husband's Animagus form.

"Here you go, Prongs," Lily laughed and handed the cutter to her son, receiving a huge smile in return. "Well, only Wormtail is left," she said, taking another tissue in her hands.

"No!" Harry protested, while his smile slowly faded. "No Bow."

"Well, you can't leave just one of Daddy's friends out, now, can you?" Lily scolded him lightly, placing the fourth cutter in front of her son, before she showed him how to cut out the biscuits and where to put them.

"Kay Mummy," Harry cheered and set to work, while Lily began to clean up her workspace.

A minute later, the fireplace in the living room flared and Lily hurriedly left the kitchen, instructing Harry to go on with his work. Heading to the fireplace, Lily saw Molly Weasley's head in the flames.

"Hello Lily, I'm so sorry to disturb you. Do you perhaps have a fever reducer for a toddler, which I could borrow? Ron has a very high fever, and I can't leave him alone to go to the apothecary."

Lily shook her head. "I'm sorry, Molly; I don't have one, but I can brew one for you. It'll take about twenty minutes," she offered gently.

"Would you mind, Lily?" Mrs. Weasley asked hesitantly, knowing that in contrary to herself Lily was very adept at Potions.

"Of course not; I'll call you when it's finished," Lily replied gently, cutting off the Floo connection. She hurried back into the kitchen, seeing from the corner of her eyes that Harry was still occupied, and quickly gathered the ingredients, setting to work immediately.

Twenty minutes later, she finished the potion and Floo called Molly Weasley, whom she handed the small batch she had brewed, causing the woman to thank her profusely.

'_Thank God that's finished_,' Lily mused when she hurried back to the kitchen to see how Harry was getting along.

"Do!" Harry shouted as soon as she entered the kitchen.

"You're done?" Lily asked, sceptically looking at the table, on which Harry had made quite the mess. She quickly rolled the dough out once more and cut a few wolves, which she put next to the indefinable objects Harry had put on the baking tray. '_Where's the rat?_' she mused after cutting several dogs and stags, noticing that the form was gone from the table.

"Harry, where is the rat form?" she queried, causing her child to look guiltily at the floor. "Accio rat," she incanted, waving her wand around the kitchen, and the small cutter flew into her outstretched left hand, causing Harry to throw her a menacing glare.

'_He must really hate Peter_,' Lily mused, while she slid the first baking tray into the oven. '_Let's just hope that he behaves himself when the Marauders come for tea_.'

To Harry's luck, Peter was indisposed that day, and only Remus and Sirius, whom Harry both liked a lot, accompanied James home for tea.

"How is my favourite godchild today?" Sirius asked, before he playfully threw the child a few centimetres into the air, catching him gently, before he pulled him into a tickling attack.

As soon as Sirius let go of him, Harry toddled away as fast as his small feet could carry him and pointed to the advent's calendar. "Aka!" he explained proudly.

"Oh, is that your advent's calendar?" Remus asked gently, causing Harry to scrawl away in search for the doll he had received that morning.

"Moony, Padfoot, are you coming?" suddenly James' voice could be heard, and the Marauders headed to the cellar, where James had already spent the previous afternoon with Frank, apparently working on a Christmas present for Harry, leaving a very disappointed child behind.

Lily let out a long sigh. "Well, sweetie, it's time for you to go to bed anyway," she said softly, picking the boy up from the floor.

"No! No no no no no!" Harry replied, throwing his mother a terrified look, trying to wriggle his way out of her arms.

"Harry, stop this immediately," Lily told him sternly. "The earlier you go to sleep, the earlier it will be tomorrow, and then you'll be able to open the next present of your advent calendar, and afterwards we'll go to Diagon Alley, because Mummy has to buy something for Daddy."

"Kay," Harry agreed, yawning, and let himself be put to bed in a good mood, looking forward to the next day, knowing from experience that there was some connection between the word Diagon Alley and ice cream.

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tbc...

_Thanks to JWOHPfan for correcting my mistakes!_

_Everything here belongs to J. K. Rowling, and I am not earning anything by writing this story._


	3. December 17th

**December 17th**

Lily lazily shut off her alarm clock, when a sudden thought crossed her mind. '_Harry! I still don't know how he got out of his crib yesterday morning_.' She quickly scrambled out of bed, hurrying into the connecting room, and sighed in relief, seeing that her son was peacefully asleep where he belonged at that time of the day.

A few hours later, Lily stepped out of the fireplace at the Leaky Cauldron, a very pale Harry in her arms. Harry didn't like to floo or apparate, and he often got sick after apparating, so she preferred to take the Floo network whenever possible. After a short chat with Tom, the owner of the Leaky Cauldron, Lily took Harry by the hand and left the pub, watching her son in amusement as he looked in awe at the brick wall that opened to let them through to Diagon Alley. '_Thank God he didn't get sick after flooing considering that he just ate his chocolate from the advent calendar_,' she mused, recalling that Harry had just eaten the chocolate frog a few minutes ago, after running around with it for an hour.

'_All right, I have to wait until Harry is asleep in his buggy, before I buy any Christmas present for James_,' Lily mused. '_He has to believe that Father Christmas brought all the presents that are under the tree on Christmas morning_.' She pulled the buggy out of her robes and quickly enlarged it, before she contemplated putting Harry in it, and he protested vehemently.

"No ba! I wow!" Harry shouted, running away across the street.

"You will go into the buggy right now, Harry. You can walk later on," Lily said firmly, throwing the child a stern glare. "If you don't want me to put you under a body bind spell, come over here immediately."

Little Harry hid behind a small wall, his eyes widening when all of a sudden his mother was standing right in front of him. "Harry, I will count until three, and if you're not in your buggy at three, we'll go home, I'll put you to bed, and I'll ask Aunt Petunia to come and babysit you."

"No!" Harry screamed horrified, quickly climbing into the buggy, before Lily could even begin to count. "Dago!" he demanded, reaching out for her robe pocket, while a small tear escaped from his left eye.

Lily sighed in relief, while she pulled Harry's favourite toy, a green stuffed dragon, out of her other robe pocket, handing it to the child. Unbeknownst to Harry, she put a charm on the toy that would ensure that it remained within a distance of a metre from Harry all the time, so that he couldn't lose his valuable toy on the way.

During the next hour, Lily pushed the buggy around Diagon Alley, trying not to go near nor even look at the Quidditch shop, while she hoped that Harry would become tired in the buggy like she always heard from other mothers, whose babies would sleep once they were in a buggy. However, Harry was as awake as he could be, looking around with interest, oblivious to the fact that his mother had lowered the back of his seat into the sleeping position.

Lily sighed in exasperation. '_Why is Harry always different from what others tell me? He sleeps much less than other babies anyway. Nevertheless, it's too cold to run around the street much longer_,' she mused, before she unobtrusively waved her wand at the child, casting a light sleeping spell on him. She lowered the now sleeping child into a restful position, sighing in relief as he made himself comfortable with his right thumb in his mouth, while his left hand was busily cuddling his dragon.

Once more confirming that he was fast asleep, Lily finally entered the Quidditch shop, where she bought a new broom polishing kit, a Quidditch book that had just been released, and a broom compass for James, grateful that Harry stayed completely out all the time she spent in the shop. '_Maybe I still have time to look for a toy for Harry_,' she mused, hurrying into the toy shop.

Looking at the corner for the two year olds, where she intended to buy something since Harry seemed to be ahead of other kids in many ways, Lily lost herself trying out several toys. Finally, she was just pondering if she should take the apple with many colourful buttons with letters and numbers on it or a tree that made the sounds of different animals, unaware of the fact that Harry was watching her with interest.

"A-pu," he suddenly voiced, causing Lily to jump startled.

"Hi sweetie, are you awake again?" she asked softly and kissed him on the cheek, inwardly groaning because she had been lingering too long. "Shall we look and find a nice new book for you?" she asked hoping to distract the child, causing Harry to sit up in excitement.

"Ye Mummy, boo boo!" he shouted happily, while he got out of the buggy and ran ahead to the bookshelf.

After skimming the bookshelf for half an hour, Harry couldn't decide between a Muggle colouring book of the Teletubbies and a children's story of a group of magical animals and their adventures, so Lily decided to buy both, glad when they finally walked back in the direction of the Leaky Cauldron. Harry was eagerly toddling next to her, while he proudly pushed his buggy, unaware of the fact that it was charmed to move forward on a light touch.

Lily felt utterly relieved when they were finally back at home, where Harry engrossed himself in his colouring book for the rest of the afternoon, so that she had time enough to hide her shopping items out of her curious husband's sight.

Later in the evening when Lily brought Harry to bed, a huge smile flashed over his face. "Mummy, aka toki yum yum," the little tyke said, rubbing his hand over his belly.

"The chocolate in your advent calendar was yum yum?" Lily laughed. "Well, then you have to make sure to tell that to Aunt Alice when she visits us again on Sunday. But you're right, sweetie. Chocolate frogs are yummy."

"Ye," Harry gave back sleepily, already closing his eyes.

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tbc...

_Thank you for your kind reviews! Thanks to JWOHPfan for correcting my mistakes!_

_Everything here belongs to J. K. Rowling, and I am not earning anything by writing this story._


	4. December 18th

**December 18th**

"Harry, we have to hurry a bit. I promised Mrs. Weasley that we'd floo to them right after breakfast," Lily told her son, who just couldn't take his eyes from the nativity set, which had enlarged itself as soon as he had unwrapped it. '_This advent calendar is brilliant_,' Lily mused, '_just not right when we want to leave_.'

"Harry, put it away for now. You can play with it when we're back," she tried to get her son's attention, which was completely focused on the new toy.

The toddler finally looked at her and came over, the nativity set firmly in his hands. "Bah bah," he said happily, pointing to a flock of sheep.

"Yes, they are sheep, sweetie. Do you want to take the set with you to watch it together with Ron?" she asked, expecting that the toy would be broken within the first hour considering the six wild boys, who were running around at the Weasleys' home.

"Ye," Harry replied, looking up to her with a smile on his face.

Lily cast a shrinking charm on the thing and stuck it into her robe pocket, before she picked up the child and stepped into the fireplace, shouting, "The Burrow."

At the Burrow, six boys were sitting on the sofas in the living room, trying to calm down a screaming baby that was handed from one brother to the next. Harry toddled over to his friend, sitting down next to Ron, who quickly handed her his screaming sister. Harry nearly dropped the baby, startled, and frowned at the noise.

"Too wowd," he told her, finding her screaming absolutely too loud, and hesitantly moved a finger over the small red face.

All of a sudden, the screaming stopped and the baby moved a little hand towards Harry's face, trying to grab his nose, while she looked straight into his green eyes, obviously taking a liking to the older boy.

When Mrs. Weasley entered the room with a warm bottle of milk for Ginny, she stopped dead in her tracks, before she hurried over, greeting Harry and Lily enthusiastically. "Now Harry, since she seems to like it on your lap, would you try to give her the bottle please?"

Harry threw the woman an uncertain glance, before he took the bottle and allowed Mrs. Weasley to arrange her daughter on his lap, so that he could feed her. Seconds later, the baby began to suck her milk, while her hand was still trying to reach Harry's face.

"Why Hawwy feed Shinny?" Ron, who was a few months older than Harry, asked in an upset voice.

"Because he is much nicer to her..."

"... and more interesting than you, Ronnykins," the twins replied in a sing song, causing Harry to laugh at their antics.

He had met the twins several times, because Lily and he visited the Weasleys quite often, and he liked Fred and George a lot. '_They're always funny_,' he mused, while he watched how the milk vanished from the bottle at an unbelievable fast speed.

Finally, Mrs. Weasley took the empty bottle and, to Harry's relief, the baby from him and returned to the kitchen, taking Lily with her.

"We're going out to play Quidditch," one of the older children suddenly said, causing Ron and the twins to jump from their seats in excitement.

"Come Hawwy," Ron invited him, leading him out into the garden.

"You must put your coat on first," Charlie, one of the older boys, told him, gently helping him into his warm coat, before he let him run out after his brothers.

Fred and George brought their toy brooms, while the three older boys mounted their big brooms and let loose a Snitch. "Let's try to catch the Snitch from them," Harry heard Fred say to George, while he sat down on the frozen grass next to Ron.

'_Where is the Snitch?_' Harry mused, feverishly searching the sky. '_There_,' he finally saw it, feeling sad, because he didn't have a broom to go and catch it for them. '_Come here, Snitch_,' he thought intensely, and a bright smile appeared on his face when the Snitch indeed obeyed and hovered straight into his outstretched hand.

"De Nitch," he proudly told Fred as he hovered nearby a few minutes later, causing the twins to land next to Harry in surprise.

"Charlie, Bill, we have the Snitch!" the twins shouted up to their brothers, and the three older boys came down immediately.

"That must have been accidental magic," Bill explained to the twins, while Charlie told Harry, "Maybe you'll be a good Seeker when you're older. Well done, Harry."

"Do you want to try out our brooms?" Fred offered to Harry and Ron when the three older boys took back into the air.

"They are only toy brooms and can't go far or high," George added mischievously.

"Yey," Harry squeaked in absolute delight and took Fred's broom, trying to mimic Ron, who was already mounting George's. He took into the air, noticing that it was absolutely terrific. Never before had he done something that was more fun. '_There, the Snitch_,' he thought happily, using all his power to go faster and higher on the small broom, oblivious to the fact that all the other boys were watching him in awe. He caught the Snitch, which was a bit difficult, because the ball was a little big for his small hands, but he managed to get down onto the ground, proudly showing the Snitch to the others, who quickly followed him and gathered around him just as Mrs. Weasley came out of the house together with Lily.

Ron ran over to his mother, crying. "Mummy, evybone ony Hawwy no Won."

Harry quickly handed Fred his broom back and toddled after Ron, pulling him into a hug, while the older boys filled Mrs. Weasley in about what had happened.

"Harry was able to break the charms on Fred's broom?" Mrs. Weasley asked incredulously, throwing Lily a terrified glance. "Lily, none of our boys ever managed to break that charm. If you intend to give Harry a broom some time, be careful to put extremely strong charms on it."

"We'll do that," Lily replied gratefully, resolving to speak with James about the matter as soon as possible.

Glancing at the still crying Ron, Mrs. Weasley turned to the twins. "Fred and George, can you take Harry to your room and play for an hour? I assume that Ron is so whiny because he is still not completely recovered from the flu; so I'll put him to bed for a while."

"Of course, Mum. Come on Harry," the twins shouted happily, motioning Harry to follow them into their room.

The three boys played for a few minutes, but due to the vast amount of accidental magic that Harry had used he was extremely tired, and when Mrs. Weasley and Lily quietly entered the room two hours later, they found the three boys lying next to each other on the bed fast asleep.

"That's strange," Mrs. Weasley told Lily when they quietly retreated from the room, deciding to let the children sleep. "The twins never willingly sleep during the day. I wonder what they have done."

"But the twins are very friendly. Harry likes them a lot. He often speaks about them, and I found it very generous of them that they let Harry sleep in the middle," Lily replied. "Harry still takes a nap during the day, and I assume that he is tired because of using so much magic."

"That could be, and the twins are very good boys indeed. At least they're much easier to handle than Ron," Mrs. Weasley agreed proudly.

In the afternoon, the four younger children played a few games together, but the twins and Harry remained tired, leaving everyone to wonder what they could have done to exhaust themselves.

Before Lily stepped into the fireplace with Harry, Mrs. Weasley told her in a small voice, "Shall we meet at Flourish & Blotts tomorrow morning? I heard that Father Christmas would be there tomorrow at eleven o' clock."

"That's a good idea, Molly. Yes, we'll be there," Lily agreed immediately, and the two women decided to meet at the Leaky Cauldron at a quarter to eleven, before Lily took a still tired Harry home through the Floo network.

Glad that Harry willingly went to bed early that evening, Lily conducted a stern talk with James concerning the safety charms on a child's broom.

"Don't worry, Lily. We'll cast the charm together, so that Harry won't be able to break it," James reassured her in a soft voice, before he motioned her upstairs saying with a mischievous smile, "Let's go to bed too."

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tbc...

_Thanks to ElderMaster, wandamarie, sjrodgers108, and Harrysmate for your kind words and support! Thanks to JWOHPfan for correcting my mistakes!_

_Everything here belongs to J. K. Rowling, and I am not earning anything by writing this story._


	5. December 19th

**December 19th**

In the morning, Harry didn't want to eat the cornflakes with bananas, pressing his mouth shut each time James tried to put a spoon full into it, so that by the time he had to leave for work he had only managed to get three spoonfuls of the breakfast into the child.

"What's wrong, Prongslet?" he asked gently, kissing the child on the forehead. "Be good for your mummy, will you?" Without waiting for an answer, he pulled Lily in a quick embrace, kissing her as well, and hurried away.

"Bu-ba Dada," Harry whispered after his Daddy, who was already through the door together with his Mummy.

A minute later, Lily returned, surprised to see that Harry was still sitting at the table. "What's wrong, sweetie? Didn't you like your cornflakes? Do you want some warm milk or pumpkin juice?" '_Strange; normally, Harry eats everything I make_,' she mused.

"Ye," Harry nodded gratefully, gulping down the juice his Mummy filled in his little cup. "Yum yum."

"Do you want toast?" Lily enquired gently, giving the child a piercing look when he shook his head. "Are you feeling all right, sweetie?" she asked, worriedly placing a hand on his forehead, which felt cool to the touch.

"All right then, let's get dressed. We're going to Diagon Alley and meet the Weasleys this morning. Mrs. Weasley heard something about Father Christmas coming to town today. Shall we go and look into seeing him? In the afternoon, we have to go to Hogwarts and meet Granny Minerva."

"Gwanny Min," Harry cheered. "Kay Mummy."

An hour later, they were both dressed and ready to leave. "It's still a bit early though, Harry," Lily told him, glancing at her wrist watch. "We only have to meet the Weasleys in an hour."

"Tchoo tchoo?" Harry queried, turning his head to his mother with a hopeful expression in his eyes.

"You want to go by underground instead of taking the Floo?" Lily elaborated thoughtfully. "Well, why not. We have time enough; we have to apparate to the train station though."

Harry drew a face but nodded, watching as his mother placed a shrinking charm on his buggy, sliding it into her robe pocket. They left the house and, once out of the anti apparition wards, Lily pulled Harry close, telling him, "Shut your eyes, sweetie," before she apparated them to the nearest tube station. When they got off the train at the station nearest to Diagon Alley, Lily took Harry by the hand. "All right, Harry; we'll have to walk for a few minutes now."

However, Harry had other ideas and reached into his mother's robe pocket, pulling the shrunken buggy out.

"You want to sit in the buggy?" Lily asked incredulously. "Harry, are you feeling all right?"

"Ye," Harry replied shortly, climbing into the buggy as soon as it was ready. On the way, he looked around interestedly, pointing to Christmas decorations here and there, so that Lily finally dismissed her concern.

Just before they reached the Leaky Cauldron, Harry climbed out of the buggy, motioning Lily to put it away.

"Why should I put it away? Mrs. Weasley will have a buggy for Ginny too," Lily said, raising an eyebrow.

"Shinny baby, no Won," Harry replied firmly, averting his eyes to the floor.

As soon as they entered the Leaky Cauldron, Harry heard the Weasleys' voices and hurried over to the twins.

"Hi Harrykins," they said simultaneously, causing Harry to throw them a huge smile, before he turned to Ron.

"Hi Won."

"Hi Hawwy."

Fortunately, Mrs. Weasley quickly ushered them out of the pub, so that Harry didn't have to say anything to Ron, who already looked put out, because Harry had greeted the twins first. Harry looked for the twins, who were dragging behind the others, and joined them, walking at Fred's hand as they headed to the bookshop.

By the time they reached Flourish & Blotts, Harry felt exhausted. His head hurt and he was just feeling unwell like he had the whole morning. But there was no way he was going to miss all the fun and stay at home, so he didn't tell his Mummy about it. Together with the twins and the other Weasley children he watched Father Christmas enter the bookshop, and like all the others he was asked if he had been good.

"Ye," Harry replied anxiously, averting his eyes to his feet as he stood in front of Father Christmas, leaning into Lily's robes, glad that his mother was standing right behind him.

"I can see that you're a very good boy," the red robed man told him, handing him a small present.

"Fanku," Harry said gratefully, happily taking his treasure back to the twins, who had already unwrapped their presents, finding small magical Christmas story books in the packages.

When everyone had their presents and Father Christmas left the shop, Mrs. Weasley suggested, "Shall we go for an ice cream before heading home?"

"No Mum, let's go home..."

"... to read our new books," the twins replied, causing their mother to frown, while their brothers threw them angry looks.

"Are you two getting ill?" Molly asked worriedly, explaining to Lily, "Well, we'd better head home. The twins have been behaving strangely all morning, and I'm afraid that they're coming down with something."

"Harry has been strange too," Lily recalled. "I hope he won't get sick though."

"There is quite a chance, considering that he has been together with the twins all day yesterday," Mrs. Weasley replied apologetically. "Magical illnesses have a very short incubation time, especially between children."

Throwing Harry a worried glance, Lily asked, "Harry, shall we go and eat an ice cream?"

"No," Harry replied, glancing at the twins.

The two women took the eight children back to the Leaky Cauldron, from where they floo-ed home without lingering. Lily made Harry take a nap, waking him up right in time so that he could eat something, before they had to go to Hogwarts for her appointment with Professor McGonagall.

"Harry, it's time to get up, and I just remembered that you still didn't open your advent's calendar this morning. Shall we do that first and then have lunch?"

"Kay," Harry mumbled, tiredly toddling down the stairs after his Mummy.

When he refused to eat his egg sandwich and only took a few bites of the chocolate frog from his advent's calendar, Lily was sure that the child was sick, even if Harry denied it. She worriedly felt his forehead, noticing that it felt a bit warm but not overly so, and told him to lie down on the sofa, so that she could take his temperature just to be sure that he was all right.

However, Harry had other ideas. "No Mummy, go Gwanny Min," he shouted, jumping up and down with both feet, which he was very good at considering his age.

"No Harry, we will not go to see Granny Minerva, if you don't comply and let me check on you first," Lily replied in a stern voice, causing Harry to throw a temper tantrum, shouting and kicking, until Lily finally lost her patience and picked the child up, placing him on the sofa, before she summoned the thermometer.

Lily sighed in relief when Harry willingly opened his mouth. However, as soon as the cold glassy stick had reached its correct position, it came back out by itself, flying straight against the opposite wall of the room, where it shattered into hundreds of pieces.

"Harry you're very naughty," Lily told him in exasperation. "I'll call Granny Minerva and tell her that we won't be able to visit her today, and I'll ask Aunt Poppy to come and check on you." With that, she headed to the fireplace, leaving a crying Harry behind.

A few minutes later, Madam Pomfrey stepped out of the fireplace, waved her wand over the child, and confirmed that he had caught the wizard's flu. "A day of bed rest and he should be better. I'll check on him again tomorrow morning."

"We'll come to see you then, because I have to go to Hogwarts to see Minerva tomorrow since we can't go today," Lily promised, putting Harry to bed, glad that he was already fast asleep due to the potion the Mediwitch had spelled straight into his system. '_The next time, I'll put him in a body bind spell, before I have to check on him_,' she mused, shaking her head at her son's behaviour, before she once more wondered what Minerva could want from her that seemed to be so urgent.

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tbc...

_Thanks to all my reviewers for their kind words! Thanks to JWOHPfan for correcting my mistakes and to ElderMaster for her advice!  
__Everything here belongs to J. K. Rowling, and I am not earning anything by writing this story._


	6. December 20th

**December 20th**

In the morning, Lily made James take Harry's temperature and give him his potions, knowing that the boy dare not behave how he had acted the day before in his father's presence. James had offered to take the day off to stay with Harry in case the child couldn't accompany Lily to Hogwarts, but Harry's condition was much better, and Lily decided to take him with her, so James could go to work for the last time before Christmas.

Harry still hardly wanted to eat anything for breakfast but took great interest in the small booklet that was in his advent calendar. It was the story of three unicorns and a phoenix that made their way to Bethlehem when owls spread the news of Baby Jesus' birth all over the world.

"Go Owk?" Harry asked as soon as James had finished reading the story to him, causing his father to throw Lily a questioning look.

"You mean if we go and visit Fawkes, the phoenix of the Headmaster?" Lily guessed, earning herself an amazed look from her husband when Harry nodded eagerly.

"Harry, I don't know. The main purpose is to visit Granny Minerva, and we also have to see Aunt Poppy once more. If the Headmaster has time, perhaps we can go and visit Fawkes. We'll ask Granny Minerva about it," Lily explained patiently.

As soon as James had left for work, Lily once more changed Harry's nappy and put shoes on his feet, before she told him to wait in front of the fireplace, while she got ready as well. However, when she returned to the fireplace, Harry was not there. While she looked around in exasperation, Harry slowly came down the stairs, showing her his dragon.

"Daky go," he explained, before he toddled back to the table and fetched his new booklet as well. "Booky go, Mummy?" he queried, throwing Lily a pleading look.

"All right," Lily gave in. "You may take your dragon and the book with you."

Normally, Lily apparated to Hogsmeade and walked up to the castle, but Minerva had offered to open her Floo connection, so that they could use the fireplace, knowing that it was too much of a hassle the other way, especially with such a small child.

When they arrived in the Deputy Headmistress' office, Harry quickly wiggled his way down from his mother's arms and ran over to Minerva.

"Gwanny Min!" he shouted excitedly, causing the woman to pull him into a bear hug.

"Hello sweetie, are you well again?" she asked gently, motioning Lily to take a seat.

"Ye," Harry replied happily, making himself comfortable on Minerva's lap as she sat down behind her desk.

"Have the holidays already begun?" Lily queried, surprised that the professor didn't have to teach at this time of the day.

"Yes, yesterday was the last day of classes, and tomorrow most of the students will go home for Christmas," Minerva replied, smiling at the young woman, who had always been like a daughter to her.

"Come here, Harry," Lily turned to Harry, "leave Granny Minerva in peace. We don't want her to catch the flu from you."

"It's all right, Lily. Harry is fine here, aren't you, sweetie," Minerva said gently, lightly tickling the child, before she added in a small voice, "The teachers here are all immunized against the wizard's flu, so don't worry about that."

"Harry really seems to like you. He threw a huge temper tantrum when we couldn't go to see you yesterday," Lily laughed.

"I'm glad he likes me and also Hogwarts in general. In fact, Lily, I'd like to discuss something with you." Seeing that her former student was listening intensely, she continued, "I'd like to offer you the position of the Charms professor."

Lily nearly choked in surprise. "But..."

Minerva couldn't help laughing at her expression. "Professor Flitwick told Albus and me a long time ago that he'd love to teach History of Magic. However, so far he couldn't find anyone, whom he deemed worthy of becoming his successor. In fact, he already told me five years ago that he wanted you to take over his position as soon as you were ready. However, when you left school you had other plans, then you were pregnant, and last year Harry was a baby, so you couldn't take over for him. Now however, Harry is already a big boy and able to live in the castle with us, and we thought it was the right time to ask you. What do you think, Lily?"

Lily still sat there in shock. "This is so absolutely unexpected," she finally replied, deep in thoughts. "However, I'd love to teach Charms. Of course I have to speak with James about the matter, but if he agrees and if you really deem me adequate for the position, I'd like to accept."

"That is indeed good news, Lily, and don't worry about James' answer, because as meddling as Albus is he already spoke with him and asked him beforehand, so you wouldn't be too disappointed if he had important reasons against it. Albus and Filius Flitwick are already researching special Charms and wards that need to be placed on the castle in order to keep Harry safe here. All our teachers as well as Poppy have agreed to help you look after Harry during their free periods, and since I'm the one to arrange the time tables, I'll see to it that he'll always be in good hands during your classes."

"Thank you so much, Minerva. In that case I'd love to accept the position. Harry, would you like to live here at Hogwarts?"

Harry, who had been on the verge of falling asleep on Minerva's lap, sat upright and his eyes began to twinkle merrily. "Ye," he agreed happily. "Go Owk?" he queried hopefully, causing Lily to let out an exasperated sigh.

Seeing that Minerva looked from Harry to her questioningly, Lily explained, "Harry would love to go and visit Fawkes, but..."

"That's no problem," Minerva reassured Harry. "I suggest that we go to the Great Hall to eat lunch first, and afterwards we'll go to visit the Headmaster and Fawkes."

"We also have to go to the hospital wing. Poppy wanted to see him once more," Lily threw in, causing Minerva to glance at her wrist watch.

"Well, then let's take the Floo to Poppy's office. From there it won't be so far to walk to the Great Hall," Minerva decided and, seeing Lily nod, stepped into the fireplace together with Harry.

After a quick check-up by Poppy, who spelled two more potions into Harry's stomach, Minerva and Lily walked down to the Great Hall with Harry in the middle. Although he had been to Hogwarts several times since his mother used to visit Minerva frequently, the huge pictures along the corridors were always interesting for Harry, and he was absolutely delighted when they entered the Great Hall, which was already beautifully decorated for Christmas.

Dumbledore, who was already sitting at the Head table, quickly conjured a child's chair for Harry, placing it right next to his own chair, before he invited Lily to take the seat on Harry's other side.

"Lily agreed to become Filius' successor," Minerva filled the Headmaster in, taking the empty seat next to him.

"That's very good, and it's up to you if you want to commence in January or at the beginning of the new school year," Dumbledore turned to Lily.

"This was completely unexpected, and I'm afraid I have to get used to the thought first," Lily replied hesitantly. "Please let me talk with my husband about the matter, and I'll inform you after the weekend."

The Headmaster agreed and lunch appeared on the tables. "Hawwy go Owk?" Harry turned to Dumbledore, extending a tiny hand to the man's interesting white beard.

"You may stroke it, but please don't pull it," Dumbledore told the child, who hesitantly stroked the white beard.

'_Looks like Father Christmas in the book_,' Harry mused, quickly pulling his hand away and absentmindedly opened his mouth for his mother to put some of the delicious food in. After lunch, Harry was allowed to visit Fawkes, while Lily had a meeting with Flitwick. Dumbledore made Harry sit on the sofa in his office, remembering right in time that Minerva had forbidden him to give Harry lemon drops, because he was too small, before he motioned Fawkes to sit on Harry's arm and talk to the child.

#Hello little nestling# Fawkes greeted the child with a happy melody, causing a huge smile to appear on his face.

"Hi Owk," he replied happily.

#The old chick here told me that you're coming to live at Hogwarts. I'd like you to come and play with me from time to time.#

"Ye, fanku," Harry smiled, causing the Headmaster to throw him an astonished look.

"Harry, can you understand what Fawkes says?" he queried incredulously.

"Ye," Harry gave back, yawning, turning his eyes to the old man.

"That is strange," the Headmaster mused aloud. "Then you might be a phoenix Animagus when you're big, just like me. Normally I'm the only one, who can understand him."

Fawkes commented on the Headmaster's words with a soothing melody, causing the small child to happily drift off to sleep.

Harry was still asleep with a thumb in his mouth and his dragon tucked in safely under his left arm when Lily came to floo back home with the sleeping child. That night, Lily and James talked for a long while about how they were going to arrange their life at Hogwarts.

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tbc...

_Thanks to JWOHPfan for correcting my mistakes!  
__Everything here belongs to J. K. Rowling, and I am not earning anything by writing this story._


	7. December 21st

**December 21st**

On Saturday morning, James came to take Harry out of his crib when he cried for his Mummy. "Mummy seems to be ill, Harry; will you help me to look after her?"

"Ye," Harry replied earnestly, while a frightened expression clouded his face. "Mummy fu?" he queried, wriggling his way out of his father's grip, before he hurried to his parents' bedroom without waiting for an answer. "Mummy!" he shouted, while he climbed up onto her bed to cuddle with Lily, noticing that her hands felt very hot. "Mummy ot," he stated, giving Lily an anxious look.

"It's all right, Harry. I'm sorry, I'll get up and make breakfast now," Lily said soothingly, cuddling the child close.

"No Lily, you're going to stay in bed today, and I'll ask Poppy for a potion for you. Sirius and the others are going to come over in an hour, and they'll help me to take care of Harry," James objected firmly, picking the child up from the bed.

"Bu-ba Mummy," Harry said softly, while his father carried him out of the room. He only ate a few bites of his porridge, leaving James to wonder if he was still recovering from the flu or if he was missing his mother so much. He didn't even eat the chocolate frog, which he found in his advent's calendar, but hurried up to his mother's bedroom and placed the frog on Lily's night table, noticing with disappointment that his Mummy was asleep.

An hour later, the other three Marauders arrived and began to play with Harry, who squealed in delight, so that James hurried to throw a silencing charm on the bedroom door. Fortunately, Lily was still fast asleep due to the effects of the potion Poppy had given her a short while ago.

All of a sudden, Harry began to cry. "Na na da di," he whined on James' asking what was wrong.

"What is he saying?" Sirius enquired, throwing James a questioning look.

"I have no idea," James had to admit. "Only Lily is able to understand his talking."

"Na na da di," Harry repeated insistently, pulling James' robe.

"I think he wants you to come with you," Remus guessed, causing Harry to nod.

"Dada go," Harry tried, slowly toddling ahead to the stairs, making his godfather laugh.

"Look how he walks. I think his nappy is full," Sirius chuckled, and everyone laughed.

James picked his son up and carried him into his room, followed closely by his three friends, who observed as he took off his son's dirty nappy.

Harry stopped crying at once and relaxed as the fresh air hit his bum, suddenly unable to resist the urge to relief himself, choosing the best aim there was, and the Marauders looked at Peter's jumper, torn between shock and amusement.

'_I hate him_,' Harry thought, completely satisfied by his action, throwing his father an innocent smile as he fastened a clean nappy.

"Shall we go flying for a while?" Sirius suggested, causing Harry to shout, "Ye," throwing his godfather a delighted look.

"Hmmm, I'm not sure," James replied thoughtfully, giving Harry a piercing look. "I think we should wait two hours and let Harry take a nap in the meantime. He isn't completely recovered from the flu yet, and before Lily kills me..."

"Oh then it's better to let him sleep for a while," Sirius interrupted him quickly. "That gives us a bit of time to work on you-know-what."

"Exactly," James said firmly, gently placing Harry into his crib, summoning his dragon for him on the child's protests. "Sleep well, Harry. Afterwards, we'll go flying," he promised, before he ushered his friends out of the room. "Can you go ahead, please? I'll just look in on Lily for a moment."

Lily's condition was still unchanged, and James ordered her to stay in bed, promising that he would take care of Harry. He placed a charm on the child, which would alert him as soon as the boy woke up, before he headed to the cellar, where his friends were already waiting for him.

After Harry had taken his nap, the Marauders headed out onto the Quidditch pitch.

"Since you don't have a broom yet, you'll have to fly with me," James told his son, making him sit in front of him on his broom.

"Kay," Harry replied eagerly and helped James to look for the Snitch. He even managed to catch it for his father as he hovered in front of the golden ball.

"All right, Harry, now you have to help me," his godfather told him, taking the child from his friend, and Harry laughed in delight as he sat down in front of Sirius.

"De Nitch!" Harry all of a sudden whispered to Sirius, causing the man to hurry and let Harry catch the Snitch again.

"Wow, James, he's really brilliant. I bet he'll be Seeker at Hogwarts," Sirius beamed, while he landed next to Remus, so that Harry could ride with him the next time.

Harry had a lot of fun flying, but he absolutely refused to mount a broom together with Peter. "No!" he shouted in determination, causing Peter to ask for a reason.

Knowing that Harry for some reason didn't like Peter, James walked over to his son, laying a hand on the child's forehead, before he explained, "I think he's just not feeling so well yet. Maybe we should go back inside, shouldn't we, Prongslet?"

Harry gave his father a grateful smile, slightly nodding his head, completely oblivious to the strange look Peter threw him.

A few hours later, James and Harry quietly entered Lily's room, sitting and lying on the bed next to her.

"Lily, how are you feeling?" James queried, looking piercingly at his wife.

"Much better," she replied, gently stroking Harry's cheeks.

"That didn't sound very impressive," James commented, before he took the thermometer from the night table, sticking it into her mouth. "Lily, can you listen for a while? I've something important to talk with you about."

Unable to talk, Lily threw him a questioning look, causing James to continue, "Harry absolutely despises Wormtail, and I believe that we should change our Secret Keeper. I can't tell you exactly why except for the fact that Harry hates him, but it's just such a feeling."

"That's exactly what I feel," Lily blurted out, discarding the thermometer on the night table in spite of James' frown. "Please James, can we go to Dumbledore immediately and ask him to change the Secret Keeper? I don't trust Peter, knowing that Harry hates him so much."

James let out a long sigh, glancing at the thermometer. "You're in no condition to go anywhere, love. I'll go and speak to Dumbledore. Maybe he can come over." He left the room, hurrying to the fireplace in the living room.

"Come sweetie," Lily told Harry, "I want to hear what Dumbledore says." They slowly followed James down into the living room, where they just arrived when the Headmaster stepped out of the fireplace.

After hearing the Potters' suspicions, Dumbledore said gravely, "I agree completely with you, and I believe that we have to act quickly. Voldemort likes special days for his activities like for example Halloween or Christmas Eve. You need the old Secret Keeper and the new Secret Keeper as well as someone to cast the Fidelius Charm. Have you already agreed on a new Secret Keeper?"

"Either you or Minerva," Lily replied quickly.

"All right," Dumbledore agreed thoughtfully. "In that case we could cast the Charm immediately, provided that you manage to get Peter here tonight."

"Do Lily and Harry have to come out with us as well?" James queried, glancing at his wife in concern." Seeing the Headmaster nod, he continued, "In that case we have to postpone it to tomorrow or better yet Monday. Lily is ill with a high fever."

They agreed to cast the Charm on Monday evening, and while Dumbledore floo-ed back to Hogwarts, the three Potters spent a cuddly evening together in the parents' bed.

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tbc...

_Thanks to JWOHPfan for correcting my mistakes!  
__Everything here belongs to J. K. Rowling, and I am not earning anything by writing this story._


	8. December 22nd

**December 22nd**

When Harry woke up in the morning, it was again James picking him up.

"Ne-Ne come," Harry shouted happily, remembering that Lily had told him in the evening Alice and Neville would come to visit them again. "Wook aka!" He tried to wiggle himself out of his father's arm, who straightened his grip on the child.

"No Prongslet, I'm sorry, but I have to change your nappy first. Then you can go and open your advent calendar." He laid the boy on the changing table, gently changing his nappy. "Harry, I'm sorry, but Alice and Neville can't come today, because Mummy is still sick," he then said regretfully, causing Harry to move so vehemently that he nearly fell off the changing table.

"No!" he began to whine immediately. "Ne-Ne come, Hawwy pay Ne-Ne!"

"We could go out and build a snowman together, Harry. It snowed a lot last night," James suggested, feverishly trying to distract his son to no avail.

"No, Hawwy wan Ne-Ne," Harry whispered sadly, while huge tears were beginning to pour down his cheeks.

James sighed. "Shall I ask Alice if you can come over to them, so you can play with Neville?" at last he came up with a plan, to which Harry immediately agreed.

"Ye, Hawwy go Ne-Ne," he mumbled, slightly consoled when James finally put him down on the floor.

Harry dashed over into his Mummy's bedroom, climbed onto the bed, cuddling close to his mummy. "Mummy fik?" he asked softly, causing Lily to apologetically stroke his cheeks.

"I'm sorry sweetie, maybe I'll be able to play with you in the afternoon," she told him in a soft voice.

"Hawwy go Ne-Ne kay?" Harry queried, throwing her a pleading look.

"If Alice doesn't mind, you may go over to play with Neville. Of course, sweetie. Please tell her that I'm sorry they can't come here today."

"Kay Mummy," Harry replied happily, placing a wet kiss on Lily's hand, and scrambled out of the bed, heading downstairs, to where James had already Floo-called Alice.

"You're welcome to visit them straight away, even before breakfast," James explained, causing Harry's eyes to twinkle merrily.

He dashed to his advent calendar, throwing James a questioning look.

"Hmm?" James queried, sighing in relief as understanding set in. "Ah all right, I have to tell you which number, don't I?"

"Ye," Harry gave back impatiently.

"Well, today is the 22nd, Prongslet, two times the number two," James explained patiently, pointing to the small present labelled 22.

Harry quickly took off the wrapping paper, pulling another small booklet out, which he slid into his robe pocket. '_I'll ask Aunt Alice to read it for Neville and me_,' he mused, while he hurried to the fireplace to impatiently wait for James to take him through the Floo.

When James stepped out of the Longbottoms' fireplace, Alice, Frank, and Neville were already waiting for them. Harry toddled over to Neville, hugging his best friend.

"Hi Ne-Ne," he said happily, causing the other boy to smile shyly.

"Hi," Neville replied in a small voice.

"Hi Awi," Harry turned to his godmother, pulling the small booklet out of his robe pocket. "Hawwy wub aka. Awi booky Hawwy Ne-Ne?"

"Sorry sweetie, that was too fast. You love the book that was in your calendar?" Alice guessed, throwing James a helpless look when Harry shook his head.

"No, Hawwy wub aka," he repeated, showing a huge thing like his advent calendar with his arms.

"You love your advent calendar?" Alice guessed, causing Harry to nod eagerly.

"Awi booky Hawwy Ne-Ne?" he continued, while he opened the book and pointed on the text.

"He wants you to read it to them," Frank guessed, causing Alice to let out an understanding sigh.

"Of course, Harry, I'll read it to you right after breakfast. Let's have breakfast first."

The two men excused themselves and floo-ed over to the Potters' home to work on Harry's Christmas present, which James wanted to finish without using any magic, while Alice and the two boys had breakfast. Afterwards, Harry handed Alice his new booklet, looking at her expectantly.

"Very well, sit down on the sofa together, and I'll read it to you," Alice gave in and began to read.

_(Beginning of story)_

_Bobo was a small dragon, who lived on the dragon island at the North Pole. One day, when he was playing with two other dragons and a tortoise, who were his best friends, two penguins came along their way._

"_Hello, can you understand us?" they asked._

"_Yes, hello, I'm Bobo," the dragon replied, happy to see visitors come to the dragon island. "Who are you, and where do you come from?"_

"_We've been brought here by an ice floe, but we don't know how to get home, which is at the South Pole," one of the penguins said gravely._

"_Oh, here is the North Pole," Bobo replied in confusion. "But I know what we can do. Let's go and look for Father Christmas. I'm sure that he'll know where the South Pole is, and maybe he'll know how you can get back there."_

"_I have an idea," the tortoise Kame threw in. "My grandfather is the largest tortoise in the world. He can take all of us to the North Pole main land, so that we can go to see Father Christmas. My grandfather once told me that he knows where he lives."_

_All the friends agreed immediately, and Kame's grandfather brought them to Father Christmas indeed, who was very surprised to hear of the dragon island, which he had never visited before._

"_I'm very sorry for that, but I'll promise that from now on I'll look out for the dragon island and come to visit you every year," he told Bobo, before he turned to the penguins. "If you could wait for two days, I'll take you with me to the South Pole on my sleigh. I'll have to go there the day after tomorrow."_

_The dragons said good-bye to their penguin friends and returned home to the dragon island on Kame's grandfather's back, so they could tell all the other dragons that Father Christmas would come and visit them on Christmas day._

(_End of story_)

"Fanku," Harry said in absolute delight, enthusiastically taking the booklet back from his godmother.

"Did you like the story?" Alice asked gently, cuddling both boys close.

"Ye," Harry replied.

"Ye," Neville echoed, causing Alice to throw him a proud look.

"Well, shall we go out and build a snowman?" Alice queried, laughing when both boys jumped up in excitement, dashing over to the terrace door. "Slowly boys," she stopped them, chuckling as she conjured two warm snowsuits for the children.

An infinite time later, the boys looked like colourful balls in their thick snowsuits and headed out into the deep snow. Together they built a snowman, which the children found out was hard work. Finally, Alice conjured a hat, a scarf, a broom, and a carrot as nose for the snowman and told the children to stand left and right of it, so she could take a photo with her magical camera.

When Harry came home late in the afternoon, he pulled a photo out of his robe pocket and handed it to Lily, who saw a beautiful snow man standing between two boys with red noses from the cold, who were laughing happily and waving their hands at her. Lily sighed in relief, knowing that her son had spent a very enjoyable day at her best friend's house. '_Thank God_,' she mused. '_Tomorrow, everyone will come here to renew the Fidelius Charm, which won't be so much fun since we have to deal with Peter first_.'

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tbc...

_Thanks to JWOHPfan for correcting my mistakes!  
__Everything here belongs to J. K. Rowling, and I am not earning anything by writing this story._


	9. December 23rd

**December 23rd**

In the morning, Lily and James woke up very early, feeling extremely excited. As not to make Peter suspicious by summoning him alone, they had decided that James should invite all the Marauders considering that it was their first day of the winter holidays.

After breakfast, Lily first had to console a very upset Harry. James had tried to tease the boy by pretending to want to eat the chocolate frog that had been in the advent calendar that morning, and while Harry had tried to protect his delicacy, the frog had used the opportunity to jump away. Although everyone knew that the frogs weren't capable of doing more than one jump, the frog remained lost, causing Harry to cry after his chocolate frog.

"I'm sorry about your frog, sweetie," Lily tried to console the child. "I'm sure we'll find it later on. Do you want a biscuit in the meantime?"

"No wan bikki, wan fog," Harry whined, causing James to become impatient.

"I'm sorry, Prongslet, and I'll buy you another one the next time we go into town. Now however, we have more important problems. Lily, I'm going to call Sirius now." He headed to the fireplace and asked Sirius to come over and bring Remus and Peter with him, especially Peter.

Although slightly angered because of the early wake up call, Sirius complied, and an hour later, the three Marauders stood in front of the entrance door.

"I'm sorry for calling you, but I really need some more help with Harry's Christmas present," James explained, throwing Lily a meaningful look, before he took his friends into the cellar.

Lily headed over to the fireplace and called Minerva, who stepped out of the fireplace followed by the Headmaster a few minutes later. They quietly talked for a few minutes, all the while Minerva was cuddling with Harry, who had found his way onto her lap as soon as she sat down on the sofa.

"All right, Lily, can you call James and Peter then, please?" Dumbledore suggested, causing Lily to nod and hurry to the stairs leading into the cellar.

"James, Dumbledore is here and wants to speak with us," she explained, motioning James' friends to follow.

"Ah, all the Marauders are here," Dumbledore greeted them with a merry twinkle in his eyes, waiting until everyone was seated, before he gently began to explain, "From a good friend of mine, who is spying on Voldemort for me, I heard that Tom is planning to torture all of his followers and all of James' and Lily's class mates in order to find out who the Secret Keeper of the Potters is, so that he could come and kill Harry on Christmas Eve."

Ignoring the terrified looks Sirius, Remus, and Peter threw him, he continued, "Therefore, I suggest that we change the Fidelius Charm you're under and make me your Secret Keeper. I believe that would be safer for everyone."

"I think you're right," James agreed thoughtfully after a short moment of complete silence. "Peter was our Secret Keeper so far, but I really don't want to endanger any of my friends. What do you think, Lily?"

"I agree completely," Lily replied. "Yes please, Headmaster. What do we have to do?"

"First of all, we all need to go outside," Dumbledore explained, pulling a few small parchments out of his robe pockets, of which he handed one to Peter and another to Minerva. "I need to cast the first spell together with Peter, and then Minerva and I will cast the second one."

While they headed outside, Dumbledore unobtrusively pointed his wand at Peter, muttering something to himself, before he nodded contentedly. Twenty minutes later, everyone was back in the living room, having hot tea to warm up. Lily quickly took Harry up to his room to change his nappy, followed by Remus.

"Lily, was that somehow planned, or was it really by chance that we were here when Dumbledore and Minerva came?" he queried, tickling Harry's feet while Lily changed his nappy.

Lily sighed, ending up telling Remus the whole story, knowing that he was extremely trustworthy. "Remus, would you mind taking your friends back home in a short while? I'd like to discuss several things with Minerva considering the teaching position at Hogwarts I have accepted."

"Of course," Remus promised, scooping Harry up into his arms to carry him downstairs, chuckling as the child dashed back to Minerva immediately.

"It was good timing that your friends were here, James," Dumbledore spoke up, his eyes twinkling happily.

"Yes indeed, I'm glad that it worked so well," James replied thoughtfully. "Professor, do you think we should do something to protect my friends from Voldemort?"

"I don't think that's necessary," the Headmaster replied thoughtfully. "I'll tell my spy that I'm the Secret Keeper and ask him to let Voldemort know, and then he won't have any more interest in your friends I suppose."

At this point, Minerva interrupted her cuddling with Harry, who hadn't left her side since she arrived except for the few minutes when Lily had taken him to change his nappy. "If you don't mind, I'd like to speak with you, Lily and James, considering what I spoke about with Lily on Friday," she said swiftly.

"I think we should take our leave now anyway," Remus spoke up, remembering what he had promised Lily.

While the Marauders were taking their leave, Harry hurriedly fetched the story booklet he had received the day before, holding it out to Minerva. "Gwanny Min booky?" he queried with a pleading look on his face.

"All right, sweetie; you've been such a good boy so far, and I'll read you a story first," Minerva gave in and read the story to Harry, causing his parents and the Headmaster to listen in, smiling.

"You make a very good granny, Minerva," Dumbledore spoke up when she was finished, popping a lemon drop into his mouth.

"Hawwy lub gwanny," Harry told the Headmaster, throwing him an earnest look.

"All right sweetie, do you think you could go and draw one of your Teletubbie pictures for Granny Minerva?" Lily suggested gently, sighing in relief as Harry apparently took the hint and sat down on the floor, equipped with his crayons and the drawing book.

"I thought about when I should start teaching," Lily spoke up pensively. "Frankly speaking I don't mind; however, the beginning of January is already in two weeks, and I'd need to make lesson plans and prepare everything, which would be a bit difficult in such a short time. I also have to work together with Professor Flitwick in order to be able to take over from him smoothly."

"We also thought that it might be a better time to move to the castle when Harry will be two," James threw in, causing Harry to throw him a menacing glare.

"But as I said, if you need me to begin immediately, it wouldn't be impossible," Lily added softly, "especially as Harry seems to be very fond of Hogwarts."

"Harry, what's wrong? Why are you glaring at your Daddy?" Minerva enquired softly.

"Dada de fow go'way no no," Harry explained in a slightly upset voice, causing Lily to elaborate what had happened with Harry's chocolate frog in the morning.

"Ah, let's see then what I can find in my robe pocket," the Headmaster spoke up, and when Harry toddled over to him interestedly, he pulled a chocolate frog out of his robe pockets, handing it to Harry.

"Fanku," Harry replied happily, playfully reaching for the Headmaster's long beard.

"No, don't do that, Harry. Come here to me, and I'll help you open your chocolate frog," Minerva scolded him lightly, causing Harry to toddle over to her immediately.

The adults spent the remainder of the day talking, while they took turns playing with Harry and even managed to build another huge snow man.

Later in the evening when Lily sat on the edge of Harry's bed, gently tucking him in, Harry queried, "We go Hoga?"

"Yes Harry, from summer onwards we're going to live at Hogwarts," Lily replied, kissing him on the forehead. "Good night, sweetie."

"Na Mummy," Harry mumbled tiredly, lazily closing his eyes.

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tbc...

_Thanks to JWOHPfan for correcting my mistakes! Thanks to the kind people, who reviewed the previous chapter!  
__Everything here belongs to J. K. Rowling, and I am not earning anything by writing this story._


	10. December 24th

**December 24th**

The thought, '_We're going to live at Hogwarts_,' pushed itself to the front of Harry's mind as soon as he woke up. He excitedly wished the bars of his crib to move apart so that he could squeeze himself out of his crib, and quickly toddled his way down the stairs. Entering the living room, he stopped dead in his tracks when his eyes fell on the huge Christmas tree his father was just enlarging and setting up in the corner of the living room.

"That's a huge tree, isn't it Prongslet?" James laughed at his son's wide-eyed and stunned expression. Harry proceeded to run, in delight, over to the tree for a closer inspection.

He happily reached to touch the tree, only to pull his hand back quickly. "Owwie."

James threw him a surprised look, before he began to laugh. "Yes, you must be careful, Harry, otherwise the pine needles will hurt."

All of a sudden Lily's voice penetrated his ear as she entered the room. "My, you're up early, sweetie, aren't you? Harry, can you tell me or show me how you got out of your crib?" she queried sternly, knowing that James had promised not to take Harry out unless he screamed, which she would have heard.

"Hawwy baa 'way I wee," Harry explained proudly, causing Lily to frown.

"You made the bars go away and... what?" she asked helplessly, inwardly looking forward to when Harry was six months older and able to properly talk without so much deciphering involved. "Show me later after your nap, all right?"

"Kay," Harry replied, turning his eyes back to the huge tree, before he suddenly remembered his advent calendar and toddled over to the calendar, where only two bags were left.

Sighing, Lily came over and handed him the correct one, in which he found a tiny toy version of the Knight Bus. "Naba!" Harry shouted excitedly, remembering the bus, which he had taken together with his mummy a few weeks ago. He spent the next hour crawling over the floor, totally engrossed in his play with the small purple bus.

"Come on, Prongslet; time for breakfast," James had to shout several times, before Harry finally obeyed and hesitantly approached the table with his new treasure in hand, unobtrusively placing it right next to his plate.

"Harry, you know that a toy does not belong on the dining table. Give it to me please, and I will return it to you after breakfast," Lily admonished him lightly, glad when Harry grudgingly complied and handed the bus over.

After breakfast, the three Potters set out decorating the Christmas tree. James transfigured tissues into colourful baubles, which Lily charmed to have special effects or added patterns on them, such as those of the Marauders alter egos.

Harry sat there in amazement, advising his father, which colour they'd need next. He cheered happily when Lily showed him an emerald green bauble, knowing that this was Harry's favourite colour, with a small boy on a broomstick displayed on it.

"Hawwy!" he shouted in delight that only turned into a frown when he spotted an ornament with a rat on it. "No no no no no!" he screamed and glared at the brown bauble, causing it to fall onto the floor and shatter into hundreds of small pieces. Harry tiredly sat down on the floor with a contented expression on his face, before he glanced innocently at James, while Lily was casting a scourgify spell to clean up the pieces of glass.

"Harry, the Marauders are coming to spend Christmas morning together with us," James told him reproachfully.

"Exactly," Lily agreed. "I know that you don't like Peter for some reason and we already changed our Secret Keeper because of your animosity towards him, but nevertheless you have to behave."

"Ye," Harry replied guiltily, averting his eyes to the bus on the floor and proceeded to play with it for the next hour. When he looked up at the tree hearing James say that it was finished, he found that it looked even more beautiful than before.

When everything else was done, Lily charmed falling snow to appear a metre above the tree, snowing onto the branches and covering it with snow. To Harry's amazement though not even a bit of snow dropped to the floor due to another charm, which Lily had cast, so that all the snow vanished a few centimetres above the floor.

Harry clapped his hands excitedly, gaping at the tree in amazement. He couldn't take his eyes off the beautifully decorated tree and remained seated in front of it until Lily called him to lunch.

'_This time, I'm going to find out how he gets out of his crib_,' Lily mused, placing a charm on the child that would alert her as soon as Harry woke up. When the charm went off two hours later, she hurriedly cast an invisibility charm on herself on the way to Harry's room to watch how he had been managing to get out of his crib alone.

Harry was standing in front of the bars, considering if he should ask the bars nicely to move out of his way or shout for his mummy, when he suddenly felt his mother's magical presence nearby.

"Mummy?" he queried, looking expectantly towards the door.

Groaning inwardly, Lily made herself visible and headed over to the child, lifting him out of his crib. "Harry, how do you manage to get out by yourself?" she asked interestedly, only to receive an uncertain shrug from the little tyke.

Sighing, Lily changed Harry's nappy and ushered him downstairs. "Harry, do you want to draw something for the Christmas tree?" she suggested, laying out a piece of parchment and finger paints for him.

Using all his fingers and several colours at the same time, Harry managed to produce an exciting looking picture, which Lily cut into the form of a star, before she hung it into the tree, causing Harry to squeal in delight.

Knowing that Father Christmas was going to come in the morning, Harry willingly went to bed early that night, dreaming of Father Christmas looking in awe at their beautiful Christmas tree, before he placed the presents under the tree.

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tbc...

_Thanks to JWOHPfan for correcting my mistakes and to Mushcorn for second beta-ing and making this chapter so much more readable! A special thanks to all the kind readers, who reviewed!_

_Everything here belongs to J. K. Rowling, and I am not earning anything by writing this story._


	11. December 25th

**December 25th**

On Christmas morning, Lily and James woke up to the doorbell ringing at seven o' clock in the morning.

"Let's just ignore it, James. Who would come at such an ungodly hour on Christmas morning?" Lily groaned, while she tiredly got up to check and see if Harry had been awakened by the bell, which fortunately he hadn't.

"You know I can't do that Lily. Don't forget that I'm an Auror and I'm on call. For some reason the Floo network may be down so someone has come to alert me the Muggle way," James replied dully and headed downstairs, quickly throwing his robes over his pyjamas.

James peered out through the small window next to the door, seeing that Dumbledore and someone, whom he would never expect to show up at his house, let alone on Christmas morning, were standing on the front porch. '_Strange_,' he mused as he moved to open the door.

"Good morning," he called, just before questioning his guests. "Headmaster, who made us become suspicious of our Secret Keeper?"

"Harry," Dumbledore replied immediately.

"Snape, why do you owe me a life dept?"

"Because you saved me from your werewolf friend," grumbled the other man, causing James to open the door.

"Headmaster, to what do we earn the honour of your visit?" James queried, while he led the visitors into the living room, noticing that Dumbledore's expression was grave.

Lily and Harry were just opening the last present from Harry's advent calendar. Lily gasped in surprise upon seeing their early visitors, "Headmaster, Severus."

As soon as everyone was seated, Dumbledore began to speak. "We have good and bad news," he said gravely. "The good news is that Harry in all probability saved your lives last night." Ignoring Lily's and James' gasp, he continued, "The bad news is that you weren't only right with your suspicion concerning Peter, but that he already informed Voldemort that you live in Godric's Hollow, even if he didn't tell him the correct address, which means that you'll still be safe as long as you stay within your home. However, as soon as you leave your home, Death Eaters might attack you."

James looked from the Headmaster to Snape. "Headmaster, how..."

Dumbledore sighed. "Severus is my spy, and he witnessed how Peter, of whom he discovered last night that he was a Death Eater, was punished by Voldemort, because he was no longer your Secret Keeper."

At the end of Dumbledore's statement, the fireplace flared and an excited Sirius stepped out, closely followed by Remus.

"Moo-y, Pafoo!" Harry shouted in absolute delight, dashing over to his godfather, who playfully threw him into the air, before he began to tickle him as he took a seat on the sofa.

"Good morning, Headmaster, sorry for the interruption. James, we just noticed that Peter never returned home last night, because he didn't show up at our place at the arranged time, and his apartment was empty," Sirius blurted out, throwing Severus a strange look.

"Padfoot, Moony, I really hate to tell you this, but Peter was a Death Eater," James explained in a toneless voice. "He tried to sell us out to Voldemort, but we changed our Secret Keeper just in nick of time. Harry apparently saved our lives by making us suspicious of him, by how much he disliked him."

"Back to what I was saying," the Headmaster threw in, "was that according to Severus, who is spying on Voldemort for the light side, the Death Eaters have orders to look out for you in Godric's Hollow. Therefore, we believe that it would be safer for you to move to Hogwarts as soon as possible, straight away if you can. That's why we are intruding on your Christmas morning."

"Thank you, Albus, Severus. We'll move to Hogwarts immediately. I can still come back over the next few days to pack everything," James decided, throwing Lily a questioning glance.

Lily let out a long sigh. "James, let's at least have Christmas morning here. Since nobody can find us here anyway as long as we stay inside, it'll be early enough to move this afternoon or evening. Isn't that right, Headmaster? Severus?"

"Lily, I believe that would be the best since it would give the Headmaster time to let the house elves prepare your quarters," Severus replied in a soft silky voice, which Harry obviously liked since he immediately toddled over to the man, who had been quiet so far.

"Hi. I Hawwy," he told the man, trying to climb onto his lap, causing Severus to automatically pull him up onto the sofa with an uncomfortable expression on his face.

"Hello Harry, I'm Severus," he replied gently.

"Sebu Hoga too?" Harry queried, remembering that he had seen the man in the Great Hall when he had visited Granny Minerva with his Mummy.

Seeing that Severus threw her a questioning glance, Lily explained, "Harry wants to know if you're living at Hogwarts too. He probably remembers that he saw you at lunch the other day."

"Severus is our Potions Professor," the Headmaster threw in, "and you'll see him at Christmas dinner tonight, Harry. However, for now we need to return to Hogwarts. Please take the Floo straight to my office when you're ready."

With that, Dumbledore stepped into the fireplace, closely followed by Severus, leaving a slightly subdued Lily and James behind.

"Now Harry," Sirius finally broke the silence, "shall we see what Father Christmas brought for you?"

"Yey," Harry shouted excitedly, toddling to the Christmas tree, under which Sirius was just fishing for a colourfully wrapped present, which he handed the child.

Harry received several books and small toys. However, he cheered in absolute delight when his father enlarged the last present he had opened. The item became really huge and emerged as a play house containing a huge car park, a work bench, a potions corner, as well as a ball pool, which Harry tried out immediately, squealing with pleasure as he disappeared under the balls.

For the next few hours, Harry was busily playing in his playhouse. From time to time, one of the adults went to join him for a while, but Harry only emerged from the play house when Lily called everyone for lunch. Since they had completely forgotten to eat breakfast after the news they had received that morning, Harry was too hungry to ignore his mother's calling.

"Mummy, Ne-Ne go Hoga pay Hawwy?" he queried, turning huge emerald eyes up to Lily.

"Of course, sweetie, Neville may come and play with you anytime," she quickly reassured the child, before she pulled him in a bear hug. "Thank you, Harry," she mumbled in a hardly audible voice, knowing that the child wouldn't be able to understand the reason for her gratefulness anyway.

After lunch, Sirius and Remus played with Harry, while his parents packed all the essentials they would need during the next few days, including Harry's play house, all of Harry's books, toys, and clothes, and prepared to head over to their new home.

An hour later, the three Potters entered their new quarters at Hogwarts, where Harry watched as James enlarged and once more popped up the Christmas tree they had brought with them from Godric's Hollow, before he stood in complete wonder in front of the charmed window that showed the view of the Quidditch pitch and the lake.

"I lub Hoga," Harry squealed in absolute delight, happily leaning into his Mummy's robes as he noticed her standing beside him.

"We all love Hogwarts," James reassured him as he stepped over and pulled his family into an embrace, grateful that they were safe for once, before he was pulled out of his reverie when he noticed something soft and dark dripping from Harry's mouth onto his own blue robes. "What's that?" he asked in disgust.

"That is a piece of Harry's liquorice wand from his advent calendar," Lily said as she covered a chuckle and quickly cast a scourgify spell at her husband's robes.

**The End**

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Merry Christmas to all of you!

_Thanks to JWOHPfan for correcting my mistakes and to Mushcorn for second beta-ing and making this chapter more readable! A special thanks to all my kind reviewers for their support throughout this little story!_

_Everything here belongs to J. K. Rowling, and I am not earning anything by writing this story._


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